INDIANAPOLIS—Chase Briscoe is back home again in Indiana—and it could not have come at a better time.
The third-generation racer has endured a brutal season in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, complicated by forces outside of his control.
Just having the support of his family and the opportunity to race with the SRX Series at Eldora Speedway in Ohio could do wonders for the driver’s morale. For the first time, Briscoe will race against his Cup team co-owner, Tony Stewart.
“I’m super excited,” said Briscoe who is competing in the SRX dirt race on Thursday. “I’ve never had a race against Tony, and everybody here knows that he is my absolute hero. So for me, that was the biggest draw to run SRX. I wanted to be able to say that I raced with Tony at some point in my career.
“Obviously, knowing that the time was dwindling down, because he’s probably never going to come run a NASCAR race… So, the opportunity, truthfully, came very last-minute. Last Thursday, I think at like three o’clock, (Don) Hawk (SRX president) called me and was like, ‘Hey, we have an opening. Would you be interested in coming to run SRX?’
“I’m looking forward to it. High Point, my Cup sponsor, is going to be on it, too, which is very cool. It’s at Eldora, which is super special to me in general, and racing against my boss. Hopefully, we can beat him at his own racetrack.”
Any win would offer Briscoe at boost after the challenges he has faced in the NASCAR Cup Series this year. With three consecutive top-five finishes in April, he worked his way back into the top 16 in the point standings.
In May, the team was hit with an L3-level penalty for using counterfeit parts following the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Briscoe lost 125 points, 25 Playoff points and crew chief Johnny Klausmeier for six races.
And just like that, Briscoe dropped from 16th to 30th in the standings. If NASCAR has a death penalty, that was it. Briscoe, 28, has been outside the top 30 ever since.
After two weeks with SHR performance director Mike Bugarewicz on top of the box to evaluate the team, the company moved Briscoe’s former Xfinity Series crew chief Richard Boswell to oversee the squad. While the chemistry is certainly there, no one expects Boswell to be a full-fledged Cup crew chief overnight.
Boswell’s inexperience on the Cup side compounded by the overall lack of performance from SHR—with the exception of Kevin Harvick—has led to Briscoe’s struggles.
“It’s definitely been an interesting season, to say the least,” Briscoe said. “I feel like I’ve never had a season where it’s been just a really, really good day or really, really bad day. We either run top five, Top 10, or we run 30th or worse. There’s no in-between. So, that part has just been extremely head-scratching. It’s been hard, even with the loss… when we lost points, at the time we were in the playoffs or right there on the bubble, and now even with those points, we wouldn’t be close I don’t think.
“For us right now, we’re just trying to truthfully build for next year with the new crew chief. I think we’re five weeks in now. We know that this season, especially if we don’t win over these next three weeks, we’re not really racing for anything as far as playoffs and points go. But, we can still make ourselves way better, and we have 13 weeks to make ourselves better for the 2024 season. Really find a foundation is what we need to do as a team. I think that’s our main focus, trying to get better.”
Since Briscoe signed a multi-year extension in January, it’s in his and the SHR’s best interest to right the ship. The affable racer proved in the Xfinity Series that the potential is there. After signing with SHR to drive the No. 98 Ford for 2020, he scored nine wins—including at the Indianapolis Road Course where NASCAR will race this weekend.
Briscoe will remain in the Hoosier State on Monday and Tuesday for the Goodyear tire test at the Brickyard—with NASCAR expected to return to the oval in 2024.
“It’s going to be cool, honestly,” Briscoe said. “Just knowing I’ll be one of the first three guys to run on the oval with this new Next Gen car… it’ll be something that I’m proud of, and it’s cool to be able to do that. It’ll be nice to be able to stay in Indiana for a few more days. I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s going to be interesting. I do think that this current car seems to race really well on those styles of racetracks. I’m a little nervous about what it’s going to drive like, truthfully, and if they try different packages and things, what’s that going to drive like. But, I’m excited for it. I do think that there’s a chance that this car can race really well there if we ever do go back to the oval.”
But first, Briscoe will return to his roots—Eldora Raceway. His truck victory at the Big E in 2018 ranks among his top five career wins.
“Growing up a dirt guy, Eldora was my Daytona,” Briscoe said. “If you got a race at Eldora, it meant something. I feel like all my heroes were always able to win at Eldora and go onto that stage on the front straightaway.
“For me, Eldora is super special for that reason. It’s a privilege every time I get a race there, and hopefully I can pull into victory lane there again.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
